Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

"Why people end up believing False teachings in the Church"

“Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.”

2 Timothy 2:15,16

Any time that I have been in discussions with people about differing doctrinal beliefs, I have listened to them quote 2 Timothy 2:15 more times than I can count. Of course, I do the same thing with others. The difference can often be in how a person understands and applies this scripture. And it is so unfortunate that most people really do not understand what it means to rightly divide the Word of Truth. I hope that I can explain it in a way so that those who may have misunderstood it in the past can now understand it fully. I will admit that I have used this scripture for well over 30 years, and I did not fully understand it myself for at least the first 20 years of that time. But through study and prayer in the Holy Ghost, the revelation came to me early one morning.

When most people use this scripture, what they are really telling those they are disagreeing with is that they need to have the right combination of scriptures, with the right interpretations, so that it all can make sense in their minds. And because what people believe in their own mind to be true sounds right to them, they assume they must be right. And then naturally, everyone else has to be wrong. As a matter of fact, I have dealt with people from every doctrine, every angle, and every extreme; and someone from each view will always end up telling me that they know they have the truth because God had shown it to them. Let me tell you this! Any time you convince yourself that God has shown you a truth that others are not seeing, then you have not only assumed that you are somehow special enough to be shown this truth while they are not, but you are also closing yourself in with that teaching, making it impossible for yourself to every receive anything other than what you are so sure God has shown you. Now this can be fine if you can really be that sure. With certain things we can absolutely be that sure! Our personal salvation experience can be one of those things for many people (Although there are so many who have convinced themselves that they are saved when they aren’t at all). So this can be a very touchy and critical topic to cover. Judgments start to get thrown left and right at one another. And confusion can set in for many people. Especially those who do not know the scriptures as well as others! But we need to realize that Satan will do all that he can to cause confusion, fear, laziness with study, assumptions by many, or contentment with what they presently have as truth, even though it may not be truth. With all of this going on in the world with the many different teachings and doctrines, there really is a way to know the truth taught in the scriptures. And regardless of how so many people believe they are actually “rightly dividing the Word of Truth”, I can assure you that they are not. But I can also assure you that rightly dividing the Word of Truth is not only very possible, it is not all that difficult – once you understand a few very important facts needed in order to do it correctly.

I can list many different doctrines and beliefs that could be cleared up simply by rightly dividing the Word of Truth. One of the biggest problems with a lot of scripture usage and interpretations is based on proper hermeneutics and Exegesis.

Hermeneutics is simply the methods we use to interpret scripture, based on the knowledge that we have. One of the most important things to consider in the interpretation of any scripture is the context. The context being the subject matter surrounding the scripture. The audience is another important thing to consider. Was it being written to Apostles, Jews, Gentiles, sinners, all Christians, etc.? Many scripture interpretations can be settled by considering these facts alone.

Exegesis is similar to hermeneutics, and is even a part of it. It takes things a little further by studying the Greek grammar and syntax in the text. It is also in contrast to Eisegesis, which is the act of reading into a text things that are not there at all. When people insert their own interpretations into a scripture, they are guilty of using Eisegesis. This is done so often, without people realizing it at all.

Once we understand the importance of these two things, concerning the interpretation of the scriptures, we can then move on to “rightly dividing the Word of Truth”. The art of rightly dividing is not the art of coming up with the best or most logically sounding interpretation. Anyone can do that. And so many people have done that and still do that every day. What is known as "Apologetics" is defined as "defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse".I could get on the internet and get into a discussion on any doctrine there is, finding someone who disagrees (Which is very easy to do), and immediate see a failure to rightly divide the Word. They will engage in Apologetics fine, as they do all they can to defend their personal view of the scriptures. But they do no rightly divide the Word of Truth! Now, this isn’t a claim of perfection on my part when it comes to bible teachings, as if I could never fail to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Although I don’t believe I do with most doctrines (because I make a conscious decision to search all of the scriptures carefully), it is still possible to miss something or and missing truth at least with minor issues. There is just so much to study and learn, we cannot know it all.

Now we are getting to the real issue of importance in rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Ready? Here it goes!

When studying the bible to determine any truth from error, we realize that everyone has “their” scriptures to support their own beliefs. We end up many times with one side with one set of scriptures, and an opposing side with a completely different set of scriptures. Now of course this can be necessary in order to teach a particular topic. But the problem comes when people read into the scriptures and make them teach something they really don’t teach at all. For at least one side of the subject disagreement you will have people using scripture against scripture. So many times people want to run to a scripture that teaches the opposite that their opponent claims. If you get stuck trying to explain the proper interpretation to people only (Without getting other scriptures), then you are accused of not having any scripture support. Then when you do get scriptures to make your point, they explain away every scripture with their own interpretation. They are using scripture against scripture, or reinterpreting scripture against them to fit their own set of scriptures. You can’t ever win doing this! You will always be falsely accused, labeled, and told that you just cant here from God like they do. But the real issue is in the fact that people fail to compare scripture WITH scripture!

This is a habit I learned many years ago. When I started studying doctrines and teachings in the late 80’s, I began to read books from different authors – mostly from those that opposed anything I believed at the time. A good majority of those doctrines I held onto, proving them to be correct. While there were also several doctrines and beliefs that I realized I had wrong and I had to change. And That is exactly what I did! But in my research, study, reading through books, gathering scriptures and interpretations, I began to look up every scripture I could find on every subject I studied. I would lay those scriptures out on the table (Figuratively speaking). Not just scriptures from what I learned as a Christian. But every scripture from every belief, every angle, every interpretation, and every thought. In the process of using ALL of the scriptures together, I began to search how they can all be true when used together. If the Bible is truly the Word of God, then His Word cannot contradict itself! It has to make sense without any confusion caused by another scripture. I learned that in doing this I could use every scripture used by every doctrinal believe there is to form a single bible doctrine on any topic. I learned that if I ever had a scripture that seemed to teach against what I always believed, then it doesn’t mean I had it totally wrong (Although it could). But it does mean that I have at least something wrong. It means that something is not being “rightly divided” in my handling of the Word of Truth.

So there you have it! It sounds so simply. Yet most people these days completely miss it. This applies to any doctrine, any teaching, any belief or opinion that we have of come up with. We must ALWAYS be sure that we are able to use scripture WITH scripture, and never use scripture AGAINST scripture! It is for this very reason that we have so many different doctrines, beliefs and opinions in the world. Well, this is a main reason anyway. Other reasons are simply that people want to believe a particular way, or they are simply believing whatever comes to their mind and makes sense to them at the time. If it makes sense to them, many people will put the Holy Spirit’s name on it and claim He revealed it to them.

Now I haven’t gone into any details or gotten specific about any doctrines or beliefs. It may be helpful to use different examples to show how all of this works. But there are so many, and it is so easy to go down rabbit trails and get off subject by doing that. But just to generalize some of it, these issues come about through doctrines of salvation (Calvinism, Arminianism, salvation being unconditional or conditional, universalism, etc.); the Godhead (Trinity, Oneness, etc.); End times, and so much more.

There are a few subjects of debate that are much harder to use scripture with scripture, since the bible is much more limited on anything relating to the topic. In such a case I have found that Early Church writings can be very helpful by showing us what the early Churches believed historically in the first 3 centuries of the Church. There are many quotes available from their writings that help to clarify things and even explain some of the scriptures as they understood them. Many of those quotes are available on this site under the Early Church.

With so many different doctrines and churches in the world, we have cults that are way far off and out of the park. Then we have Churches that would still be considered Christian as far as most major doctrines, but they are still not right with God because of being sin supporting religions. Then we have Churches that do not support sin so much, but they are merely religious. We have many churches who do preach Jesus in the right way for the most part and lead people to salvation, but they still lack many important truths and qualities. Even when we get closer to the top of the list, when Churches are much better, they still have different doctrines and teachings. But at least they do have a right heart that goes hard after Christ. And this is when we just thank God for His grace! We thank Him because of the fact that He saves us even when we don’t get it all right. Of course, that doesn’t give us any excuses for acting like it doesn’t matter. If we have the means to find truth and teach it to the people, then we need to use it! And we DO have the means! We have prayed for truth and sought it out. But we really didn’t understand the strategy of the enemy to bring confusion by keeping us from rightly dividing the Word. Once we understand this, now we can pray again, in humility, with faith. Start all over if you have to. Forget everything you were taught and look to the scriptures alone – while considering the different sides and views. Don’t listen to teachers while doing this – except to use what they teach to compare scripture with scripture.

I promise you that as you study with this method in mind, you will come into a new anointing, with new revelations, and a new peace and joy in Christ. Let the experience humble you, as you realize how easy it is to miss the mark with doctrines and beliefs of every kind. But be aware that others may not receive you new awakening and zeal as being from God. They are still stuck in the one-sided scripture battle, holding tightly to their doctrines and beliefs. This is a very hard thing to break away from for so many people. I cant promise that we will all end with the exact same beliefs by doing this. There are a lot of decisions we all have to make in the process of our studies, with still many different influences around us. But I am confident that we can get a whole lot closer to believing the same things by doing this. The real problem is when people simply refuse to change and want to believe the way they do. Change is a hard thing for many people. Just the mental though of it alone is difficult. The idea of being a Christian for many years and having been wrong all that time scares many. Or the idea of changing themselves, while their family and friends will not change scares them. This could mean separation for many; loss of leadership positions, jobs, status, respect, and relationships. The cost is too high for them to even consider changing. But I think we need to ask ourselves if you can put a price tag on the truth? If what Jesus said is true when He said, “And they shall know the truth, and the truth shall make them free”; then what if there are truths that keep you or others from being truly free? Why would we want to settle for any second rate “truth”?